History of DOS

The history of Dinnington Operatic Society begins in 1922 with the formation of the Choral Society by a Mr Pressley of Anston who was the first Musical Director. Rehearsals took place at the Colliery Institute in a small upstairs room. The first production was Handel's "Messiah" followed by the first musical called "The Dogs of War" which was performed at the Lyric Theatre.

Some time after its' birth the Operatic Society changed its' name to Dinnington and District Amateur Operatic Society - quite a mouthful and kept that name until only a few years ago. It continued to produce more musical productions amongst them were "Merrie England", "Our Miss Gibbs", "The Geisha Girls" and "Floradora".

The history during the period 1927 to 1937 becomes a little hazy at this point but it is believed that the Lyric Theatre closed for repairs and therefore the Society also ceased to perform. It was not until 1938 that a Mr Francis Davies re-started the Operatic Society with a series of Gilbert and Sullivan operas beginning with "The Gondoliers". The shows continued through World War II and during one of the operas - probably "Yeoman of the Guard" - the air raid siren began sounding but in true theatre tradition the show still carried on.

In 1942 the Society was invited by the Principal, Mr H. Ralph, to use the Hall of the Chelmesford Mining and Technical Institute in a bid to help finances and improve working conditions and facilities. So a move took place from the Lyric to the Institute. "The Gondoliers" was repeated and was followed by "Katinka". The Producer at this time was Kathleen Cadman, with Edna Rogers as Musical Director.

New ownership of the Lyric in 1962 created better facilities and the Parish Council invited the Operatic Society back to the Lyric. The Society Chairman was a Mr Harry Randall and the Musical Director was still Edna Rogers. Productions continued with shows such as "Oklahoma!" and "The Student Prince".

The first pantomime was performed in 1967 called "Babes in the Wood" and for a while the Society alternated each year with a pantomime and then a musical. Then for the first time the Society began putting on two productions each year and the first were "Showboat" and "Humpty Dumpty" both performed in 1975. Arthur Plant was the Producer, with Cyril Walton as MD and Pat Bellamy as Choreographer.

In an ever-continuing saga of financial problems, the Society tried various Reviews which helped to raise the necessary funds to be able to put on the musical production the following year. The first review called "Come Fly With Us Down Memory Lane" was performed at the Lyric Theatre in October 1978.

Once again finances dictated our next move, this time to the Dinnington Comprehensive School's main hall and from February 1994 productions began there with the pantomime "Sleeping Beauty". By this time the Producer was Jeff Foley, Lesley Kirkpatrick was MD and Adelle Rose-White the company Choreographer. With this move came a new name and the Society dropped the word Amateur from its title becoming affectionately known as D.A.D.O.S. In October 1997 this was abbreviated even more and became known by its present name Dinnington Operatic Society or DOS.

In its 80th year, the Society had to quickly find new lodgings (Fagin eat you're heart out!). Major refurbishments of the school meant we had to move again and where better than to return to our old haunts at the Lyric Theatre. And there we've been ever since.

We are currently in our 91st year and with good fortune in 9 years we'll be able to celebrate a well deserved Centenary. What a party that will be. We did move to three productions a year by introducing a students show in May but we have had to suspend these shows due to low student numbers. In the meantime we continue with fantastic pantomimes in January and, of course, our musical in October. Producer/Directors vary with each show which helps to encourage new talent in this field. Our Musical Director is Jonathan Wilby and the role of Choreographer is also shared by a number of talented people. Our President is Iain St.John and the Society Chairman is Steve Ball who took the reins over at our recent AGM from Dave Jones who had this exalted position for very many years. We wish Steve well in this challengine role.

The history of the Society continues and now that we have much better ways of recording our activities, our history should become more and more informative.